1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for mobile data collection in which a handheld device is used to collect and integrate multiple types of data, such as data related to building inspections. One or more reports of the integrated data can be generated.
2. Description of Related Art
Inspection of the premises for compliance with building and safety codes is typically performed by an inspector reviewing the site and manually collecting data, such as by writing the data in a notebook. The collected data is later manually inserted into an inspection report. Attempts have been made to gather data of construction and hazardous materials using a handheld portable device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,078,255 describes a floor safety inspection system. A portable data collector and probe are used to collect information. A plurality of buttons are each encoded with a hazard identifier. As an inspector tours the business premises, the probe of the portable data collector is brought into proximity of appropriate hazard buttons. The data is downloaded in a cradle/modem combination to a central computer. The central computer can generate reports of compliance with a predetermined floor safety inspection procedure.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,594,621 describes a system and method for determining conditions of a plant at inspection sites identified by identifier codes. A remote processing device with an inspection transducer can sense and store at least one characteristic of equipment at the inspection site. The transducers are connected to a transducer adapter, such as an input/output card of a remote computer. The remote computer can be a personal computer. A portable processing device is fitted with a barcode reader to allow the device to read the identification codes. The operator can be prompted by the portable processing device to perform particular measurements on the equipment using the remote processing device. The portable processing device may also request the operator to make certain observations and enter qualitative conditions of the measurements.
A central processor communicates with and uploads from the remote processing device and portable processing device the measured characteristic and identification codes. The central processor produces a signal signifying the condition of some aspect of the plant in response to the measured characteristic and the identification codes. A camera can be used to take still images of changing aspects of the facility. The still images are stored for later retrieval, months or years later, to provide a comparison of how the facilities change over time.
It is desirable to provide an improved handheld device for data collection of inspection information combining, integrating and manipulating one or more types of data, such as text, GPS, sketches, barcodes and digital photographs, and generation of an associated report.